Plan to make Cooch Behar a total sanitised district

Cooch Behar Zilla Parishad is now busy in implementing the Nirmal
Bharat Aviyan. The aim is to make the district a total sanitised
district by 2015. In 2010, the Mathabhanga-II Panchayat Samity that
consists of 10 Gram Panchayats, received an award from the President
of India for making the PS area a total sanitised PS. It was the first
PS in North Bengal that was awarded by the President for its
achievement. Another 37 Gram Panchayats in the district also have been
recognised as total sanitised GPs.

The sabhadhipati of Cooch Behar Zilla Parishad, Dilip Biswas said that
under the Nirmal Bharat Aviyan they are working hard. 17 GPs are going
to be marked as sanitised GPs very soon. "We are waiting for a visit
of the Central team to these GPs to evaluate the situation", Biswas
said.

International Border Trade Centre

Save the Society and Rivers Committee organised a unique programme to
criticise the Central government for its failure in making the
International Border Trade Centre in Changrabandha a modernised one.
They performed a Maha Yajna at the VIP Morh that was supported by the
traders' organisations and others that are associated with foreign
trade. A number of residents including members of business community
and curious people attended the programme.

The convenor of the committee, Sanjib Chatterjee alleged that in 2007,
the then Union Commerce minister Jairam Ramesh and in 2010 the then
Union Finance minister P Chidambaram promised that the Changrabandha
Border Check Post would be improved for the greater interest of
foreign trade. But, the government failed to keep its promise. He said
that the government has collected revenue of Rs 2,000-crore from 1989
to 2012 from here but spent nothing for its development. To mark a
protest against the government's indifference they organised the Maha
Yajna. On 15 December they will also organise a Kirtan programme,
Chatterjee announced.